Tech · UAE Weekly
Within minutes of her resignation letter being published online on Monday , Carla Lockhart's photo and profile were stripped from the DUP webpage. All traces of one of the party's most popular politicians were wiped away at breakneck speed. The party she joined as a teenager wasted no time in moving on, issuing the shortest of statements regretting her decision to quit but making it clear such divisions in unionism only benefit Sinn Féin.
It was a parting swipe at its former Upper Bann MP in what was a bitter break-up. Lockhart resigned from the DUP over its handling of the fallout of the Drumcree parading dispute. Despite insisting she makes her own decisions, Lockharts's former colleagues remain convinced she is being manipulated by others.
They refuse to accept their one-time loyal MP could be fast-tracked out of the party without the influence of others. Not so says Carla Lockhart, as she prepares to take her seat as an independent unionist MP at Westminster. She leaves behind a party which has now just four MPs, falling from the high of 2017 when the DUP had 10 members of parliament.
It has also lost its only female MP and three of those left behind are in the twilight of their political careers.
Source: BBC
